Final answer:
President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points were idealistic and aimed at establishing lasting peace through principles like national self-determination and free trade, whereas the Treaty of Versailles was punitive and helped lay the groundwork for future conflict due to its harsh terms on Germany.
Step-by-step explanation:
Comparison of Wilson's Fourteen Points and the Treaty of Versailles
The end of World War I saw two significant documents come to the forefront in the quest for establishing a lasting peace: President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and the Treaty of Versailles. While Wilson's Fourteen Points were idealistic and focused on the principles of peace and self-determination, the Treaty of Versailles was more punitive towards Germany and ignored many of the president's proposals.
Wilson's Fourteen Points outlined a vision for world peace that included openness in all matters of diplomacy, including free trade, freedom of the seas, and an end to secret treaties. One of the key principles underpinning Wilson's plan was the right to national self-determination, advocating that ethnic groups should have their own governments. A significant point was the proposal for a League of Nations, an international organization that would provide a forum for resolving disputes without war.
However, the resulting Treaty of Versailles was markedly different. It imposed heavy reparations on Germany, demanded that Germany accept blame for the war (the war guilt clause), and resulted in the division of German and Ottoman territories among the Allied powers. This punitive approach created significant economic hardship in Germany, which eventually contributed to the rise of National Socialism.
Had the Treaty of Versailles more closely resembled Wilson's Fourteen Points, it might have led to a less vindictive peace that could have prevented economic distress and political instability in Germany. Instead, the treaty's harsh terms and the complications it created by drawing new national borders without regard for ethnic groups planted the seeds for future conflicts.